Reflecting the Unionist Message in the Romanian Press

Abstract

Not much has been written about the unionist press in contemporary Romania. However, the unionist press has pervaded the entire Romanian media, since the fall of communism until nowadays. It is known that, after the change in 1989, the references to the space between the Prut and the Dniester Rivers, populated mostly by Romanians, grew exponentially, as the former Soviet republic shook off the traces of the past and the burden of imperial history.

Initiated enthusiastically, the unionist rhetoric of the Romanian press gradually began to change, as the authorities in Chisinau moved away from the idea of reunification, which, in fact, they did not want, with power, at any time of the existence of the independent state of the Republic of Moldova. The initiatives of some true patriots (Alexandru Moşanu, Ion Ungureanu, etc.), who held discussions with Bucharest, in order to find a way to reunification, met the resistance of the post-communist leaders from both countries.

Going through tumultuous stages, the “Bessarabian issue” is treated, today, with pragmatism, by the Romanian press, which moved away from the romantic period of the 1990s.